Once upon a time, I bookmarked a recipe I saw on Foodgawker for something called Hasselback or Accordion Potatoes. How could you not want to try to make these gorgeous creatures?

Well, I tried, and I’m here to tell you, they were just so-so. Definitely pretty to look at, but it was like potatoes with an identity crisis. Are they baked potatoes? Are they roasted potatoes? I never could figure it out. They definitely are attractive little side dishes though, so don’t write them off entirely. Looks obviously count for somethin’!

Preheat your oven to 425. Take your baking potato and slice it into thin strips, almost all the way through the potato. (My strips don’t look thin because they were sticking together a bit, but in the final result you can see how they fan out.) Sprinkle with salt and pepper and any other seasonings you like. I used garlic.

Put your potatoes on a baking sheet and drizzle them with melted butter or olive oil. I used a little of both. Make sure it gets down into the slits.

Bake your potatoes for about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on their size. The skin should be crispy while the inside of the potato should be soft.

I sprinkled these with a little grated Parmesan for the last few minutes of baking.

When Matt and I first started dating, somehow the topic of Thanksgiving stuffing and dressing was broached. My dad has cooked a number of different types of dressing in my lifetime, like oyster dressing and cornbread dressing. We don’t have a standard family recipe but instead have experimented with a variety of recipes.

Matt told me emphatically that there was only one kind of stuffing worth eating, much less cooking, and that was his family’s recipe for stuffing made with hot dog buns.

(Hot dog buns? Did you just wrinkle your nose up like I did when I heard this? It’s a good thing you are not Matt’s girlfriend.)

So for our first Thanksgiving together, I tasted, with some trepidation, a batch of this stuffing made by Matt’s mom. And it was delicious! You would never know it is made with hot dog buns, but I think that hot dog buns provide the perfect amount of bread “crust” to soft bread ratio, which makes it just right for stuffing. Now I am a believer.
Ingredients:

1 ½ dozen hot dog rolls (12 cups)

2 sticks butter

1 ½ cup chopped onion

3 cups chopped celery

1 ½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

2 tsp ground sage

2 chicken bouillon cubes stirred into 2 cups boiling water

2 eggs

Tear the buns into quarter-size pieces and throw them into a bowl. You may need a large bowl, but the buns will shrink dramatically once you have added the liquid.

Sauté onions and celery in the butter and add to buns with the seasoning and toss.

What could be more perfect for your New Year’s Eve celebration than cupcakes spiked with champagne? These turned out very cute, and the frosting was so delicious that I’ll definitely use it again, for occasions other than New Year’s!

Ingredients for cake:

1 box white cake mix

1 1/4 cups champagne

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 egg whites

5 drops red food coloring

Preheat oven to 350. Beat all ingredients together until the batter is smooth. The champagne frothed up on me a lot at first:

Divide the batter amongst 24 cupcake liners.

Bake until slightly golden, which was 17 minutes for me. Frost with pink champagne frosting!

Ingredients:

3 1/4 cups powdered sugar

1 cup butter, at room temperature

3 tablespoons champagne (I used an asti)

4 drops red food coloring

Beat together ingredients until smooth, using more champagne if your frosting appears too thick. Pipe onto the cupcakes – Happy New Year!

When I was growing up, we would have corned beef, cabbage, and black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day. Since I don’t have any corned beef fans to cook for these days, I had to at least have some black-eyed peas today, and since it is a serious football watching day, I thought the perfect recipe would be some kind of dip. I know everyone has seen those “Texas Caviar” where black-eyed peas get mixed in with a basic salsa – but I wanted something warm. I think this creamy dip turned out pretty good, and it’s very simple. All you’ll need:

2 cans black-eyed peas, drained and mashed with a fork

1 cup sour cream

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup picante sauce

salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 350. Then mash the black-eyed peas with a fork.

Then stir in all your other ingredients.

Spread the mixture into a casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly.